FAITH RECKONS ON GOD’S FAITHFULNESS (1)

Our faith may falter, but His faithfulness never. Peter failed Christ, oh! so miserably that three times over he could deny his Lord. But the faithfulness of Jesus Christ to Peter remained unshaken. The heavenly Father cannot forget His promises, nor can He deny Himself by failing to keep them.

Psalm 89:33

“Nevertheless my lovingkindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail.”

2 Timothy 2:13

“If we are faithless, he abideth faithful; for he cannot deny himself.”

We may even be ready to give up in defeat to the enemy or to lay down our task in sheer discouragement. We may be on the point of taking our hand from the plow and turning back. But Christ is not discouraged; He will not give up; He acknowledges no victory on the devil’s part. He has called us into fellowship with Himself; He has owned us as His possession and has assumed the responsibility for our control, and He will not lay it aside. What He has begun in us He will continue. His work in us does not depend upon our love for Him but on His love for us: not faith in our faith but faith in His faithfulness is what He wants from us.

Philippians 1:6

“Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.”

1 Thessalonians 5:24

“Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.”

I watched two young girls cross a glacier. The path was not clearly marked out, there were great gaping holes in the ice, often the next step had to be fairly cut out. They were not even properly shod with spiked shoes. Yet they tripped along apparently unafraid and in safety because they were roped to one who knew how to avoid the dangers and surmount the difficulties of that icy path, and they reckoned on the faithfulness of their guide.

How much more can we reckon upon the faithfulness of our Guide who knows the way before us and whose business it is to lead us safely through all its dangers and difficulties. Our Guide delights to have us throw away all props and helps; to let go of everything outside of Himself and then cast ourselves full-length upon His unfailing faithfulness. “Sarah . . . received power. . . since she counted him faithful who had promised” (Hebrews 11:11, R.V.). 

FAITH RECEIVES GOD’S FULLNESS

Are you a child of God? Then by virtue of your sonship, you may be filled with the Holy Spirit. Such fullness has been promised to you, and it has been provided for you. Then why is it that you do not possess your birthright?

There are several ways for an honest man to gain possession of a thing; he may buy it, he may barter for it, or he may receive it as a gift.

Can one buy the fullness of the Holy Spirit? Simon the sorcerer thought in his heart to purchase Him and the power to confer Him upon others, for which he was severely rebuked. Can His fullness be secured through barter? Have you perchance tried to strike a bargain with God offering Him some odd moments of time, some remnants of strength, some segment of talent, in exchange for the fullness of the Holy Spirit? The rich young ruler would no doubt have exchanged half his possessions for the life more abundant, but he went away sorrowful. One way remains by which you may possess the Holy Spirit’s fullness. It is the gift of God.

1 John 3:24

“And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.”

What does one usually do with a gift? He receives it and thanks the giver. This is precisely what God wants you to do with this wondrous gift of the Holy Spirit’s fullness. Let me illustrate by a simple incident which brought this message to my own heart with fresh meaning and power.A dear young Chinese girl came one evening to seek the way of salvation. That night she not only received Christ as Saviour but yielded to Him as Lord. Immediately she was filled with a passion to win to Christ the young man to whom she was betrothed. He was utterly godless. After months of intercession, personal work and, above all, exemplifying Christ in daily life before him she won him to Christ. A marvelous miracle of renewal and transformation was wrought in him. He became a new creation in Christ.

Nearly two years later Mr. and Mrs. Wang were passing through Shanghai and they came to call. Their time was limited and Mr. Wang did not want to waste one moment of it. So as soon as the introduction was over he began conversation upon the theme nearest to his heart — the Lord Jesus Christ.

Oh! how precious Christ was to that young man! What a reality prayer was. Out of every hour of the day he spent at least five minutes in prayer. What a passion he had for souls! He could not sleep at night if he had not made at least an effort to win someone to Christ during the day. What a love for the Word of God he had! It was his meat and drink.

Seeing his love for God’s Word I was reminded of a Scofield Bible which had been sent me to give to a Chinese friend. I presented to Mr. Wang saying, “I see you love the Bible. Here is a Scofield Bible which I should like to give you.” At the mention of a Scofield Bible his face grew radiant and the tears of joy filled his eyes. “Oh,” said he, “the other day I saw a Scofield Bible in Nanking and how I have wanted to possess one ever since! I began to pray for one. I went to a store to buy one. It cost too much, I couldn’t afford it. I had decided I couldn’t possess one.

Remember the three ways of gaining possession. Mr. Wang had tried to buy the Bible and it cost too much; no one had offered to exchange one for anything he had. Just one way of possession was open to him — to receive it as a gift. And now the Scofield Bible which he so much desired was being offered to him as a gift. What did he do?

Did he say, “Oh! I want that Bible more than I want any other thing but I haven’t prayed long enough for it — just wait until I pray a few months more for it!” Or did he say, “I am really not worthy to receive that Bible! I must wait until I have made myself a better Christian and am worthy to possess such a Bible!” Or did he reply, “This Bible is coming too easily — just receiving it as a gift! I think I should strive harder to get one for myself for I haven’t done a thing to merit such a gift.” Or did he say, “Oh, that Scofield Bible is what I want and need more than anything else but it is not for me! God might give my wife such a gift but not me!” Or did he say, “You say that Bible is for me but I do not feel that it is mine so I think I should not take it until I feel I possess it!”

If Mr. Wang had made any one of those foolish, absurd remarks I should have been forced to one of two conclusions; either that he was not honest and really did not want a Scofield Bible or else he thought I was not honest and did not really offer that one to him. One of these two conclusions is inescapable.

What did Mr. Wang do? Well, I wish you could have seen the quickness with which he held out his two hands and took that Scofield Bible and with a face all aglow with joy and gratitude he immediately kneeled down and thanked God. As he rose to his feet he began to talk of how he would use that gift in winning men to the Lord Jesus.

Source: “Life on the Highest Plane” by Ruth Paxson

Lord, thank You. You are not depending on our being faithful to You! What You have said concerning us You will perform.